Chemical weapons watchdog says it will act fast

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sept. 16, 2013

DOUGLAS C. PIZAC

Caption

FILE - This April 30, 2001 file photo shows a safety vehicle passing a compound filled with 170-gallon containers of mustard and blister agent at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele, Utah. At rear, igloos house GB nerve gas and other chemical weapons. U.N. inspectors have confirmed Monday Sept. 16, 2013 they found "clear and convincing evidence" of a sarin nerve gas attack in Syria last month, adding urgency to moves to neutralize the countryís stock of chemical weapons. Only seven countries worldwide have formally admitted stockpiling chemical weapons and all are in the process of destroying them or have completed destruction. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, File)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The head of the chemical weapons watchdog says the organization will move swiftly to help eliminate Syria's chemical weapon stockpile.

Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Ahmet Uzumcu made the pledge Monday after U.N. inspectors reported finding "clear and convincing evidence" chemical weapons were used in an attack last month in Syria that killed hundreds of people.

Syria agreed to join the Hague-based organization last week in a deal brokered by the United States and Russia.

Uzumcu says the Chemical Weapons Convention goes into force in Syria on Oct. 14, and Damascus will quickly provide the OPCW with "a complete inventory of its chemical weapons" and production facilities.

The organization will inspect production and storage sites and help secure them ahead of the weapons' destruction.